Julia Roberts is reflecting on the ‘heartbreaking’ death of ex Matthew Perry

Julia Roberts recalled her ex-boyfriend Matthew Perry after his “heartbreaking” death at age 54.

“The sudden death of someone so young is heartbreaking. I think it helps all of us to just appreciate what we have and move on as best we can in a positive way,” Roberts said. Entertainment tonight on Monday, December 4.

Perry died on October 28 at his home in Los Angeles. His cause of death was “deferred” following an initial autopsy while a toxicology report was pending.

The Beautiful lady star, 56, dated Perry from 1995 to 1996. The pair hooked up when he went to great lengths to convince her to guest star in the 1996 film. Friends episode “The One After the Superbowl,” in which she played a vengeful childhood friend of his character, Chandler.

“They were all so welcoming to me as a kind of one-off character and it was a really fun time,” Roberts said. AND about the appearance, adding that she has “all good thoughts and feelings” about her period Friends.

Perry reflected on the beginning of his relationship with Roberts in his 2022 memoir: Friends, lovers and the big terrible.

“Julia had been offered the post-Super Bowl episode in Season 2 and she would only do the show if she could be in my storyline,” he wrote. “Let me say that again: She would only do the show if she could be in my storyline. (Have I had a good year or something?) But first I had to woo her.

Perry initially sent Roberts three dozen roses with a note about his excitement about her possible guest role, but Roberts wanted something more unconventional than flowers. “Her response was that if I adequately explained quantum physics to her, she would agree to be on the show,” he recalled. “The next day I sent her an article about wave-particle duality and the uncertainty principle and entanglement, and only part of it was metaphorical.”

Roberts was so impressed with Perry’s reaction that she signed up to appear on it Friends, and the two struck up a romance. “Not only did Julia agree to do the show, but she also sent me a gift: bagels – lots of bagels,” he noted. “I let her in, both figuratively and literally, and a relationship started. We would already be a couple by the time we started filming the movie Friends Super Bowl episode.”

Related: Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts’ Relationship Timeline: What They Were

Matthew Perry and Julia Roberts briefly – and in secret! – dated to the mid-1990s, the actor revealed in his October 2022 memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. The short-lived romance between the actors began in 1995, when Perry – per Roberts’ ultimatum – convinced the Roberts to appear in a Season 2 episode of the series. […]

While Roberts was in love with Perry, she stumbled on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1996 that she was originally intimidated by him because he was “incredibly smart, funny and handsome” — Perry eventually ended things with Roberts due to his insecurities about the relationship.

“Dating Julia Roberts had been too much for me. I was constantly sure she would break up with me,” he shared. “Why wouldn’t she? I wasn’t enough; I could never be enough; I was broken, bent, unloved. So instead of facing the inevitable pain of losing her, I broke up with the beautiful and brilliant Julia Roberts.

Perry had convinced herself that Roberts had taken it “to the slums” with him, adding, “I can’t describe the look of confusion on her face.”

Roberts got married Danny Moder in 2002. The couple welcomed twins Hazel and Phinnaeus in 2004 and son Henry in 2007. Perry, for his part, was engaged to Molly Hurwitz from 2020 to 2021.